Life As A Mutant
by jilyandpercabeth
Summary: Jay Valentine is a 16 year old boy who is a mutant and being a mutant isn't easy. Jay has to face enemy mutants, a mutant hating senator, and who knows what other challenges will arise against him. But there are also some good things to being a mutant: joining Xavier's school, making life-long friends, and maybe even falling in love. Eventual Iceman/OC. Yes this is a gay love story
1. Chapter 1: Intruders

**Chapter 1: Intruders**

 **A/N: Hi everyone! Due to the recent news of Robert/Bobby/Iceman being gay I decided to make a fanfic about it. I really hope you guys like this! Please no hate.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own X men only my OCs.**

* * *

I woke up to a loud crash.

I quickly sat up in my bed, alert, and looked towards my door where the noise had come from. Angry whispers soon followed after the crash and I quietly jumped out of my bed and tip-toed to my door, pressing my ear against it. The angry whispers were too quiet to make anything out, but I could tell that they were right outside my door.

I rose two fingers to my head, my index and middle finger, and extended my mind out to the owners of the whispers, careful not to enter any of their minds in case any of them were telepaths and would be alerted to my presence. There were two minds outside my door. One mind was moving away from my door while the other mind remained outside my door. Once I made sure the moving mind was far enough away from my room, I entered the mind of the remaining intruder.

The mind belonged to a man named Robert Samson who was a mutant with the power to blend in with his surroundings. The previous mind who was with him was a woman named Sally Cameron, a mutant with the power to control machines—that would explain how they got through the alarms. There was another group of people who came with Robert, but he didn't know their names or anything about them. Odd. I proceeded to scan his memories, trying to find the reason why he was here. After a couple of seconds of searching, I found his motive. The thought made the color drain from my face and fear run through me. _"Sleep."_ I thought to Robert and a thud sounded from outside my door. I quietly opened the door and saw Robert sprawled on the floor, eyes closed and mouth open.

I looked both ways of the hallway and ran to the room across from mine. I quickly opened the door and gently shut it behind me. I ran to the sleeping figure in the bed and scoffed. Of course Julian would still be asleep. A war could be happening right outside his room and he would still be sleeping. I shook Julian's shoulder and he opened his eyes slowly. "Why'd you wake me up for?" Julian said groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sitting up. "There are intruders in the mansion!" I told him.

Julian's eyes widened with shock "W-what?!" he spluttered. I shook my head "No time to explain. Just wake the others."

Julian started to say something else but I tuned him out. I reached my index and middle finger to my head and extended my mind again, searching through the mansion for one mind in particular. " _Miss Frost! Miss Frost I need to speak with you!"_ I thought to my teacher, Emma Frost, _"Yes, Jay, what do you need? I hope it is important enough to wake me from my sleep."_

" _There are intruders in the mansion! I just took out one of them and I read his mind before sending him to sleep. He's working for a man named William Stryker and he's here to take us to him! The man, William, he does horrible things to mutants."_ I showed Miss Frost the man's memories of what happened to mutants that William got a hold of. I shuddered as the memories of mutants being experimented on flashed in my mind.

I could feel Miss Frost's mind become more alert _"They_ _dare_ _intrude in_ _my_ _mansion!"_ Miss Frost thought angrily and I inwardly winced. Miss Frost was pretty scary when she got angry and I was glad I wasn't on the receiving end of her anger. " _What do we do Miss Frost?"_ I thought to her _"Wake the others and take out any intruder you see. I will do the same."_ Miss Frost instructed and I left her mind.

I looked around Julian's room only to find him gone. I walked back into the hallway and found Julian standing with Amara and Manuel. Relief flooded through me at the sight of my friends, but the worry quickly returned. "Where are the others?" I asked thinking about my fellow students. Julian sadly shook his head "They're all gone. I couldn't find any of them." I froze. That couldn't be, the intruders weren't here that long and there was no way they could have taken all of them so quickly. There were 40 students at the Massachusetts Academy for Gifted Children, so there had to be some left. I opened my mind and scanned the entire mansion; I felt the minds of my friends and Miss Frost. I frowned as I passed over multiple minds of intruders in the mansion, but I couldn't find any of the minds of my fellow students.

Tears filled my eyes and I shook my head at my friends. It was true, they were gone. Then a chilling thought passed my mind: were they being experimented on?

I shuddered at the thought and took a deep breath. I didn't have time to think that way.

"Is this one of the intruders?" Amara asked pointing to Robert. I nodded "Yeah he is, I put him to sleep so he should be knocked out for a while. There are other intruders that are still running about that need to be dealt with. I alerted Miss Frost and she's already starting to deal with them."

Amara nodded and closed her eyes. A second later Amara's entire body was on fire and she opened her eyes to reveal miniature flames that seemed to glow brighter than the flames that covered her body. Julian curled his hands into fists and a green glow started to cover his hands. He raised his eyes to reveal that they too were a green glow. I looked over at Manuel and he nodded in confirmation that he was ready. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them. A glowing blue light was coming from behind me, confirming that my wings had appeared. Julian nodded at all of us "Let's go."

We made our way down the hall, not bothering if we would be seen but caring enough to be silent. We went down a flight of stairs and came into view of the entrance hall. Laying at the front door was none other than Sally Cameron. Sally was lying on her back with a nasty gash on her head. Manuel rushed to her side and checked her pulse.

Manuel stood up and shook his head. Sally Cameron was dead. I knelt by Sally's body and reached a hand to her temple. I went through her memories and stopped on her most recent one.

 _Sally was walking down the stairs and raised her hand to speak in her walkie-talkie, "Rob, I'm in the entrance hall where the others said they would meet me, but they aren't here yet. This place belongs to a powerful telepath and I'm getting this odd feeling that I'm being watched. We did our part of the bargain and got them in quietly. I think we should just bail and make a run for it." Sally waited for a response back but only received the static from the walkie-talkie, "Rob, are you there? Rob we-"_

" _You're not trying to run away, now are you Sally?" a male's voice said from behind her. Sally froze and I felt the fear that ran through her veins at being caught. Sally slowly turned around only to be hit in the side of her head, hard, with a very blunt object._

I yelped and retracted my hand from her head and held my head in the same place where Sally had been hit. "Are you okay?" Manuel asked kneeling beside me. I nodded "Sally was hit with something in the head. It shouldn't have killed her, if anything it should have just knocked her out, but the object was charged somehow and that's what killed her. A man did it. I don't know what he looks like, but he's in the house."

Even though Sally was an enemy I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. I shook my head to clear the thought away and I raised my hand to my head, reaching my mind outwards. A group of six minds were located in the living room. Five minds were surrounding the sixth one and I gasped. The sixth mind was one that I could recognize anywhere: Miss Frost. "Quickly to the living room! Miss Frost needs our help!" I whispered to the others and began to run to the said destination. The others were not far behind me and together we ran through another hallway and burst through the doors of the living room.

The sight before me was not a very pleasant one: Miss Frost was cornered by four mutants and was locked in a psychic battle with three of them.

The three telepaths were identical with their dirty blond hair and matching outfits. The three of them had similar smirks upon their faces and were holding hands with one another. Miss Frost was one of the most powerful telepaths I knew, but even she couldn't face three telepaths without help. She would need help of another telepath and that telepath would have to be me.

The fourth person was a man who had a cruel expression on his face and he was passing a ball of fire back and forth in his hands. The fifth person was a man who was sitting on the couch sipping from a drink. Said man suddenly stood up, causing his glass to fall to the floor and shatter. I narrowed my eyes at him and quickly scanned his mind, not bothering if it hurt him. The man clutched his head in pain as I searched his mind. One memory made me stop cold: the man, Sebastian Shaw, swinging an energy charged bat at Sally's head, making Sally fall to the ground, dead.

 _Take care of the two men while I help Miss Frost._ I thought to my friends and rushed to Miss Frost's side. Out of the corners of my eyes I saw that Amara and Manuel had begun to engage the man that was on the couch in battle. The man with the ball of fire had turned his attention towards me and raised a flaming hand poised to throw at me. I quickly sent a piercing thought to his mind and he shrieked in pain. Suddenly a green glow surrounded the man's body and he was flung to the other side of the room. "Thanks Julian!" I shouted "No problem." he called back.

From a distance Miss Frost looked calm and in control, but as I neared her I noticed the beads of sweat on her forehead and that her features were clenched. I didn't have any more time to waste. I closed my eyes and projected my astral body outwards.

 _Miss Frost was locked in battle with the three telepaths' astral forms. She was valiantly fighting all of them but so were the other telepaths. None of them noticed my presence and I decided to use that to my advantage. I thought of a bow and three arrows and aimed for each of the enemy telepaths. I let the arrows fly and it struck the targets in the middle of their backs. They all let out a shriek of pain and whirled around to face me. "Jay!" Miss Frost called out to me, relief and gratitude showing on her features._

" _Hi Miss Frost, I thought you could use a little help." I said with a smile in her direction and ran towards one of the three identical girls. I tackled the girl to the ground and transformed my arm into a dagger and stabbed her in the shoulder. The girl howled in pain and kicked me off of her._

 _I stumbled backwards, giving the girl enough time to recover and take a fighting stance. "That was only a lucky hit. You are no match against a powerful telepath like me and my sisters." the girl growled._

 _I glared at her "We'll see about that." then I lunged at her, transforming my arms into swords and started to slice at her astral form. She raised a shield and started to block my strikes, but that wouldn't stop me. I hacked at her shield repeatedly, my anger and grief over my fellow students being taken away fueling my strikes, making cracks form in her shield. Soon the girl's shield was no more than a thin sheet of cracks and I raised both of my swords above my head and crashed them onto her shield. A resounding crash filled the air along with the girl's scream of pain and she fell to the ground unconscious. Her astral body was sucked back into her regular body which made her fall to the floor in a heap._

 _Suddenly, a sharp pain filled my back and chest causing me to glance down only to see a spear sticking out of it. "This is for rendering my sister unconscious," a female voice said behind me "and this is just for fun."_

 _The spear began to twist in my wound causing another wave of pain to go through me. I whimpered in pain and shakily grabbed ahold of the front end of the spear, intending to force it out. "Ah, ah, ah, I don't think so. You see, we're doing things on my terms." then the spear was yanked out of my chest and back causing me cry out in pain. I fell to the floor on my hands and knees, gasping. Then the spear struck my back again making me scream. My back arched and the spear was so far through me it touched the ground I was kneeling over._

 _The spear retracted from my body making me shriek in pain and fall to the floor. "Turn around and face me." the girl said and turned me onto my back with a kick. I cried in pain as she hit the wound on my back and I turned to face my attacker. Tears were coming out of my eyes and my breathing had become ragged._

" _I want to see your face when I tear your astral form to shreds. I will damage your mind so much you won't have a single thought cross your pathetic mind ever again." she rose her hands above her head, transforming them into two matching axes._

 _I couldn't even raise my arms to make a shield and block her attack. As her axes swung down towards me, I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to restart. But the pain never reached me, well besides the pain I was already experiencing. A gasp filled the air and I opened my eyes to see what had happened._

 _The telepath had her axes on the same level as her neck, as if she had stopped midswing. A look of shock was on her face and her mouth was wide open. Two swords were sticking out of her stomach._

" _Don't you ever hurt any of my students_ _ever_ _again." Miss Frost said and pulled out one of her swords and slashed the girl in the head. Her astral body was pulled towards her regular body and fell to the floor where the two other telepaths were._

" _Oh dear, let me help you." Miss Frost said and reached down to pick me off of the ground. I grunted in pain and Miss Frost raised a hand over my wound. "I've taken away most of the pain, but you'll still be sore afterwards."_

 _I nodded in thanks and Miss Frost carried me over to my body._

The familiar sense of solidifying washed over me and I opened my eyes. I cried out in pain as a pounding headache filled my head. It didn't really help that my chest and back were screaming in pain as well. That astral fight really took a lot out of me. I stumbled backwards and nearly fell down but a pair of strong arms caught me. I looked behind me and saw Julian was holding me.

I tried to stand on my own, but I was too exhausted so I continued to lean on Julian heavily. "Jay are you alright?" Miss Frost asked laying a hand on my shoulder tenderly. I gave a small smile, "I've never been better, what about you?"

Miss Frost gave a wry smile "Just fine." Miss Frost changed her smile to give me one that was filled with pride "You've fought very well." then she turned to look at everyone "You all have fought very well. I am so very proud to call you my students."

Manuel gave a nonchalant shrug and smiled, "We've learned from the best." I giggled at his comment and Miss Frost gave him a toothy smile "Indeed you have."

Miss Frost's expression turned curious "Where are the other students?" My smile fell from my face as the memory of my fellow students filled my head. "They're gone." Amara said in a quiet voice.

Miss Frost's facial features changed from shock to sadness to anger, "Where is Sebastian Shaw?"

"Do you mean that man over there?" Julian said pointing to the man with a glowing green hand. To my surprise I saw that the man was being held up on the wall by Julian's telekinetic powers. The man was trying to struggle against Julian's hold, but it was no use. "Yes I do." Miss Frost said walking up to the man "Students, I want you to meet Sebastian Shaw an old enemy of mine."

We followed Miss Frost to where she was standing, Julian half carrying-half dragging me, and surrounded the man. "Dear Sebastian, how nice it is to see you." Miss Frost said icily. Sebastian sneered at Miss Frost "Likewise Emma, likewise." Sebastian said sarcastically. "Where are the rest of my students?" Miss Frost questioned. Sebastian let out a cruel laugh "Like I would tell you."

Miss Frost narrowed her eyes at him, "Fine then I will just have to find out by force."

Sebastian cried out in pain as Miss Frost delved inside of his mind and after a couple of moments his expression of pain relaxed. I looked over at Miss Frost and noticed tears in her eyes.

"Empath." Miss Frost said, despite her tears her voice was as strong as ever. Empath was Manuel's code name due to his ability. Manuel nodded and gazed at Sebastian with a look of great concentration. "What are you-" Sebastian started but was cut off by his own sob. Sebastian gave a bewildered look but continued to cry loudly until his shoulders shook from his cries. Miss Frost walked up to him, looking him straight in the eyes "Now you know how I feel." then she raised a hand to Sebastian's head. Sebastian gasped in pain and his mouth was opening and closing with silent screams. I stared grimly at him. I had absolutely no sympathy for him; the man who delivered my friends to that horrid person of a man. Soon Sebastian's eyes rolled back and his head slumped to the side. "Let him go Julian." Miss Frost instructed and I could feel Julian nod from behind me.

Julian shifted me to one side and raised his free hand and with one flick of his wrist, Sebastian fell to the floor on his face with a smack. Miss Frost turned towards us, the tears falling down her face "Go and pack your belongings, this place is not safe anymore."

"What happened to the others?" Amara asked with a curious look.

Miss Frost looked like she was about to say no but sighed, "I think you all deserve to know." Then Miss Frost proceeded with images through telepathy, but they were fleeting. Brief glimpses of what had happened to our classmates at the hands of William Stryker. I winced as the images I had already gleamed from Sebastian's mind flashed by.

Gasps filled the room at the sight of the images but the horrific sight soon ended. We were all crying. Manuel was crying the hardest because he was probably feeling four times the grief we felt due to his ability to sense others emotions.

After a couple moments filled with tears and sniffles Manuel spoke, "Who are these people, Miss Frost?" he asked pointing to the unconscious people on the floor. Miss Frost glanced at them with disgust, "The blond girls are triplets who used to be former students of mine, they are known as the Stepford Cuckoos. And the man with the ability to manipulate fire is Luke Johnson, a friend of Shaw's."

There was another moment of silence as we all thought about the events that had occurred tonight.

"Where are we going?" I asked, breaking the silence. Miss Frost turned her gaze towards me before looking at the others "We are going to visit an old friend of mine." with that Miss Frost turned away from us to gaze out the window.

"Come on guys, let's go pack." Julian said, helping me out the door, with the others following behind us.

* * *

The plane ride from Massachusetts to New York was a good flight. A flight where I got to sleep and wake up feeling refreshed. As soon as we had gotten off the plane we got into a cab to a destination that was unknown to everyone but Miss Frost and I didn't dare try to find out by reading Miss Frost's mind. That would be a challenge that would be best if avoided since Miss Frost had her mental walls put up so I couldn't read her mind.

I stepped out of the cab and into sunlight; the air was nice and fresh—well as nice as the New York air can be. I went to the back of the cab and gathered my luggage, which consisted of two suitcases, and rolled my luggage over to where the others were standing gazing at the building in front of us. The cab drove away leaving us at its gates. I looked ahead and gasped. Up ahead was the hugest mansion I have ever seen. The mansion in Massachusetts seemed like a regular house compared to the one before me. The mansion was at least six stories high and was entirely made of bricks. The lawn was mowed to perfection and a row of trees led from the gates to the mansion's entrance.

"Hey, look at that." Julian said pointing to something on the right side of the gate. I followed to where he was pointing, finding it led to a sign: Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. This must be a school for mutants like the one in Massachusetts, but the question was: who is Professor Charles Xavier?

"Come. Let us go to our new home." Miss Frost said and made her way down the path to the mansion. Amara and I exchanged excited looks before quickly following after Miss Frost. The walk to the lawn went by exceedingly quick as I was in awe of everything around me. The outside of the mansion was simply picture perfect and I couldn't get enough of it.

We soon came upon the door to the mansion and Miss Frost opened the door without knocking. My mouth dropped open as the interior of the mansion came into view. The floor was polished marble and a chandelier greeted us from the ceiling. A grand staircase began a few feet away from the entrance with a deep red for the color of the rug. The furniture was impeccable and spotless, just like the mansion itself.

"Follow me." Miss Frost said and led us towards a door on the right side of the staircase. We came across a hall to which Miss Frost took a right and continued all the way to the end of the hallway to a door. Miss Frost gave us a mysterious smile and opened the door. The room had bookshelves for the walls with several cushioned chairs that sat in front of a mahogany wood desk. Behind the desk sat a man with his hands clasped together. The man was bald and had a kind smile and kind brown eyes. "Charles, how good it is to see you." Miss Frost said and walked over to the man and gave him a hug. Could this man be Charles Xavier?

Charles let out a delighted laugh "Emma, it is always good to see you. I understand you wanted to speak to me of something of great importance." Charles' eyes then turned toward us "Ah, these must be your students. May I ask you of your names and abilities?"

"Of course." Amara nodded and stepped forward, "My name is Amara Aquilla and I have the ability to control fire, magma, and tectonic plates." Charles nodded and gave Amara a kind smile "How extraordinary. I am pleased to meet you." Amara blushed at his response and nodded once again.

Manuel stepped forward and gave Charles a charming smile "I am Manuel Rocha and I have the ability to control and sense other people's emotions." Charles gave Manuel the same kind smile "Excellent. I am so very glad to meet you."

Julian stepped forward next "Hello Professor Xavier, I am Julian Keller and I have the ability of telekinesis." Charles gave Julian an amused smile and said, "Superb. It is my pleasure to meet you."

I stepped forward with a small smile, "Hello Professor, my name is Jay Valentine and I am a telepath and I have the ability to create shields and fly." Charles gave me a kind smile "Outstanding. I am so very pleased to meet you."

"Now, it is only fair that I do the same for you." the professor began "My name is Charles Xavier. You can call me Professor or Charles, whichever you prefer and I too am a telepath and a teacher of gifted children such as yourselves."

Surprise flickered across my face. A telepath? I extended my mind out to his and was surprised to find that his mental walls were very well built and strong. Behind his walls I could practically _feel_ that his mind was a very powerful one. Professor Charles gave me a knowing smile and I retreated back inside my own mind.

"Charles I'm afraid I come to you in a time of need." Miss Frost began. The professor raised his eyebrows "What is the problem, Emma?" he gestured for Miss Frost to sit down and she did. The others and I shared a look before quickly following our teacher in sitting down in the chairs. Miss Frost retold her story of how our school was invaded and attacked by Sebastian Shaw and his followers. After she was finished the professor was thinking deeply. "What did you do of Sebastian and the others?" he asked finally.

Miss Frost waved her hand away, dismissively "We dealt with them." The battle against the mutants quickly flashed by in my mind. I rubbed my chest gently and winced, I was still sore.

"Where are the rest of your students?" he asked.

Miss Frost gave a shaky sigh and seemed to be on the verge of tears, "Sebastian and the other mutants were working for a man named William Stryker. The man, Stryker, likes to….experiment on mutants." Miss Frost took another shaky breath, "Sebastian took the students to Stryker. They're dead now."

I closed my eyes and breathed out heavily. Tears were forming in my eyes and slowly falling. I finally allowed my grief to take over me.

Tears streamed down my face and I let out a choked sob. I looked at the others and saw that they all were in a similar state. Amara had silent tears rolling down her face and was being comforted by Manuel who had a few tears rolling down his own face. I looked over at Julian and saw that he had tears in his eyes, but he didn't let them fall. He reached his arms toward me and I moved into his arms, sobbing freely. My sobs filled the room and only added to the somber mood of the room.

After what felt like hours, my sobs finally stopped. I was clutching at Julian's shirt and was staring blankly at the bookshelf in front of me. "You okay?" Julian whispered in my ear. I gave a small nod in answer and snuggled deeper into his arms. Julian was like a big brother to me and he has always been my rock. The one who I went to for comfort.

"I am so deeply sorry for your loss." Professor Xavier began "You are all welcome to stay here as long as you wish."

"I want to join the X Men." Miss Frost said.

The professor looked surprised, "Is that what you truly want, Emma?" the professor asked.

Miss Frost nodded "Yes, it is." then Miss Frost turned to look at us with an expression I have never seen on her face: uncertainty. "I know I failed to protect you and you may not care for what I have to say, but if you would like to join the X Men with me I would be most grateful, and if you don't want to join then it-" Manuel cut Miss Frost off "We would be honored to join the X Men."

Miss Frost looked shocked "But, how could you want to be anywhere near me? I let all of you down! I couldn't protect you!"

I shook my head "You have protected us, Miss Frost." I looked at the others and they nodded in agreement.

"Besides," Julian said "wherever Miss Frost goes, her students will always be following right behind her." Amara smiled "We would never abandon you Miss Frost."

Miss Frost looked relieved and looked at us affectionately "And I would never abandon you."

I smiled and got up and gave Miss Frost a hug. Amara quickly followed after me with Manuel and Julian not far behind. Miss Frost gave a laugh and hugged all of us. Soon we were all laughing and smiling at each other, happy that we were all together.

After a while we pulled away and looked towards the professor who was giving us a smile. "Then it is settled: you may all join the X Men. I will have someone show you to your rooms."

Suddenly a knock rang against the door and the professor called for them to come in. The door opened to reveal a man with brown hair and red sunglasses. He looked in our direction for a second before turning to the professor "You called for me professor?"

The professor nodded "Yes, Scott, would you do me a favor and show our new guests: Jay, Manuel, Julian, and Amara to their rooms?"

Scott nodded though he looked a little surprised, "Of course." then he turned towards us "Follow me, please." and he walked out of the room.

I quickly gathered my belongings and followed Scott out of the room. We soon caught up with Scott and he led us down the hall and back into the entrance hall and up the stair case. My luggage wasn't the lightest and just the thought of having to carry them up the stairs was exhausting. I sighed and prepared to lift my suitcases up the staircase when a hand touched my shoulder. I looked over and gaped.

Standing before me was a guy that looked to be around my age, 16, and had a light tan to his skin. He had bright sky blue eyes that had a playful sparkle to them and golden blonde hair that fell perfectly across his head. His features were nicely shaped and he had a lean muscular build to him.

"Hi," the guy gave me a bright smile, "Let me help you with that." he said gesturing to my two suitcases and picked both of them up. He carried them up the staircase with no trouble and was soon at the top of the stairs. Then he turned around and looked down at me with an amused expression.

With a jolt I realized I was still at the bottom of the stairs. I blushed and hurriedly made my way up the staircase. I finally made it to the top of the staircase and stopped beside the guy, "Thanks for helping me with my luggage, I really appreciate it, though I could've carried one of them."

The guy smiled at me and shrugged "It wasn't that heavy to carry, besides it was my pleasure to help," he stuck out his hand, "I'm Robert Drake, but you can call me Bobby."

I returned his smile and shook his hand, "Hi, Bobby, I'm Jay Valentine." His hand was firm yet soft and was cool to the touch. "Pleased to meet you Jay, welcome to mutant high." Bobby smiled at me, flashing me his pearly whites.

Bobby turned to the others and they took turns introducing themselves. "Sorry, but I have to go help Jean with something," Bobby smiled sheepishly "I'll see you guys around." with one last smile Bobby turned around and headed down the stairs.

I watched him go down the stairs and then turned my attention to my friends and found Amara smiling at me "What?" I asked her.

"Did you think he was nice?" she asked me and I nodded my head, "Yeah I did think he was nice, why?"

"Would you say he was very nice?" Amara asked ignoring my question. I gave her a confused look, "Um, yeah I guess so."

Amara's smile grew bigger "Okay then."

Scott coughed but looked amused "Come on, we're almost to your rooms." and led us down another hallway. This hallway had many doors that were leading to what I assumed were rooms. Scott stopped halfway in the hallway and gestured to two doors on the left and two doors on the right, "These will be your rooms. You can discuss which room is whose amongst yourselves."

I eagerly opened the door nearest to me and gasped. The room was nicely sized and had light blue walls. There was a king sized bed in the middle of the room and a dresser was to the right of it. A full length mirror was near the closet door and I stared at my reflection. My light brown hair looked as if I just got out of bed but it still managed to look somewhat presentable. My emerald green eyes shone brightly in the mirror and a happy smile graced my lips, revealing my straight white teeth. "I call this room!" I called to the others and set my suitcases next to my bed, where I could easily unpack later.

I walked back out into the hallway and saw that Scott, Amara, and Julian were already there. Manuel appeared shortly afterwards and Scott gestured for us to follow him. Scott led us back down the hallway and down the staircase and went inside an open doorway. There was a whole bunch of people in the room all ranging in ages, from 6 to 20 years old. They were all surrounding the television either watching or just talking.

Scott cleared his throat and everyone's attention turned towards him "Everyone I would like you to meet our newest guests and members of the X Men: Amara, Jay, Julian, and Manuel."

There was a chorus of hellos from the crowd of students and I waved at them. I was careful to put up my mental walls as to not be overwhelmed from the thoughts of everyone in the room.

Scott turned towards us "Okay now we can go to-"

"We interrupt your regular scheduled program to bring live coverage of the state council meeting." the television screen changed to show a man in a business suit standing behind a podium, "Hello citizens of New York, I am Senator Robert Kelly and I am here to talk about the recent issue involving mutants. These mutants are a menace to our normal society and they need to be dealt with. We need to take action against them before they take action against us. They-" the television shut off abruptly and a silence followed.

Then a young girl of about seven years old stood up and glared at the television, "I don't like that man."

You didn't need to be a telepath to know that everyone in the room agreed with her statement.


	2. Chapter 2: New Friends

**Chapter Two: New Friends, a Tour, and the Danger Room**

After that wonderful speech on the television, everybody left the room to go somewhere else in the mansion. However, it wasn't instantaneous where everybody made the decision to leave the room at the same time, it was more of a gradual process. At first it was the older students who left the room and when the younger kids noticed, they followed after them.

A group of younger kids passed by and I watched as they turned back to look at the television; half of the kids' expressions were mad but the other half were scared. Then they turned around and left, without a single glance back.

"Hey Jay!" a voice called from down the hall. I turned around and saw Bobby running down the hall towards me. A smile made its way on my face "Hi Bobby."

Bobby came to a stop in front of me, breathing a little heavily, and smiled "I was wondering if you've met anybody in the mansion yet?"

I rose my eyebrows at him "I've met you." A light blush appeared on Bobby's cheeks and he looked down at the ground shyly, "Well, yeah, but I meant if you've met anyone else besides me."

I giggled "I'm just messing with you Bobby, I knew what you meant and no I haven't met anyone else." Bobby glanced up at me from the ground, his blush still present in his cheeks "Yeah, of course I knew that, I was just playing along."

"Uh huh, sure you were." I teased him.

Bobby smiled at me and turned towards Scott "Hey Scott is it okay if I go introduce them to some people?"

"Actually I was sup—"

"Great!" Bobby said cheerfully and quickly grabbed my hand and ran. I nearly fell from the sudden movement but Bobby steadied me by grabbing my arm and pulling me beside him "Whoa, that would've put a delay in our getaway."

"Yeah, wouldn't want that to happen." I said sarcastically "Where are we going anyway?"

Bobby gave me a quick smile, flashing his teeth, "To go introduce you to my friends."

Bobby led me back into the entrance room, around the staircase, and into a hallway. Bobby didn't stop his running until we were all the way down the hall and about to enter a closed doorway.

Bobby stopped and stood in front of me, grabbing both of my hands. His hands were considerably cooler than any person's hands I have ever felt. They weren't unbearably cold; they were just lukewarm. Bobby had an excited expression on his face "Are you ready to meet my friends?"

I smiled at him and laughed, his excitement contagious, "Yeah, I am. But before we do, let me ask my fri—" I turned around only to find an empty hallway. "Where did they go?"

I turned back to look at Bobby and found him rubbing the back of his head, his brows furrowed in confusion, "I thought they were right behind us." I thought over the last few moments, trying to figure out how we lost them, when it hit me. "Well you did only grab my hand. Plus we left really fast, so they were probably surprised like Scott was."

Bobby thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, I probably should've planned it better. Sorry about that." Bobby said in a somber voice. His brows furrowed, his shoulders drooped, and his lips turned downwards. He looked genuinely apologetic. "Hey," I put my hand on his shoulder and he looked up at me with sad blue eyes "it's okay, you don't need to be sad. My friends can just meet your friends later, I'm sure they would be okay with it."

Bobby looked doubtful, "Are you sure?"

I smiled and nodded "I'm sure."

Bobby immediately perked up and his excited expression returned, "Great! Let's go." Bobby pushed open the doors and led me into the room.

The room turned out to be the kitchen. It was a fairly large kitchen with white tiles on the floor and marble counters. There was a huge fridge along the left wall and there was an island in the center of the room. Surrounding the island was a group of five teenagers. There were two boys and three girls. One boy had black hair and was the tallest and bulkiest guy I have ever seen. He was sitting next to a small girl with light brown hair who was chewing bubble gum. The other boy had blue skin and a tail and was sitting next to an Asian girl with a pixie hairstyle. The last girl had brown hair with some white strips in it and was wearing gloves.

"Hey guys," Bobby called to them catching their attention and making them turn to face us, "I have someone I want you to meet."

"It's about time!" the girl sitting next to the black haired boy said and jumped down from the table and practically ran towards me, tackling me into a hug. "Hi it's so nice to meet you! My name is Katherine Pryde, but you can call me Kitty, everyone does. You see we were waiting for _hours_ for Bobby to introduce us to you. He came to us earlier in the day and was like 'hey guys I just met the newcomers and one of them is really—" The boy with black hair covered her mouth, "Sorry about Kitty, she really likes to talk." the boy stuck out his hand "My name is Piotr Rasputin, it is pleasure to meet you."

I smiled and shook his hand, noting that his hand entirely coved my own and that he had a Russian accent, "Hi Piotr, I'm Jay Valentine and it's also a pleasure to meet you." I then turned my attention to the mouth-covered Kitty and waved "Hi Kitty." Kitty waved back and tried to remove Piotr's hand but his hand didn't move an inch. Kitty scowled folding her arms across her chest and Piotr picked Kitty up and carried her back to the island.

Then the blue skinned boy walked up, looking nervous and thinking very loudly. Even though I had my mental walls put up, I didn't put them up that strongly. It was more of a curtain covering up the noise. _"I hope he isn't scared of me, like every new person I meet is. Oh no he's looking at me, I knew I should've put on my image inducer earlier. Great, now he's gone silent, that's a bad sign. Is he shocked that I'm a hideous monster? Ugh, I hate myself."_ The anguish, nervousness, and self-loathing he felt was washing over me like a waterfall.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I ran over to him. He looked shocked and then a scared expression came upon his face and he closed his eyes as if bracing himself for a hit. I flung my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. His body tensed but then relaxed as he realized it was a hug "Don't you ever have those thoughts again! You are a beautiful human being and you should never let others bring you down to their level. Who cares if there are people who don't like you, all that matters is the people who _do_ care about you." I squeezed him into a tighter hug and he slowly raised his arms to hug me as well. "What's your name?" I asked him softly "My name is Kurt Wagner." he answered me in the same soft voice. "Well, Kurt Wagner, my name is Jay Valentine and you can add me to the list of people who care about you."

After a couple of seconds, I pulled away from the hug, wiping my eyes and went to stand by Bobby again. Kurt looked at me with a look of gratitude and surprise "H-how did you know I was having those thoughts?"

I shrugged and smiled sheepishly "I'm a telepath."

Kurt's face soured a little "You were in my head?"

I quickly shook my head "No, no, I would never go inside a person's head without their permission. You were just projecting your thoughts very loudly."

Kurt's expression relaxed and he nodded "Thank you." I smiled at him "You're very welcome."

The Asian girl with the pixie hairstyle walked up next to Kurt and put a hand on his shoulder, "I always tell Kurt that there are two kinds of people: the good and the bad. Thank you for being the good." the girl walked up to me and lightly punched my arm "the name's Jubilee by the way."

I smiled "Nice to meet you Jubilee, I'm Jay."

Jubilee walked back to Kurt and was talking to him in hushed tones and smiling as they walked back to the island in the middle of the kitchen. I looked at Piotr and Kitty and smiled as Kitty gave me a big smile with a thumbs up and Piotr gave an approving nod.

"Well that was mighty kind of you," a southern voice said and I turned to look at the girl with white strips in her hair, "My name's Rogue and I think we'll get along just fine." Rogue gave me a kind smile and a light hug. "I think so too. I'm Jay." I said as she pulled away from the hug and she smiled "Yeah, I know."

Bobby cleared his throat "Well, I'm going to give Jay a tour of the mansion so we'll see you guys later." Bobby said and grabbed my hand while walking towards the door. I waved at my new found friends, smiling, "Bye guys."

There was a chorus of byes and smiling faces as I left the room. I smiled and caught up to Bobby where we were walking side by side "You're friends are nice."

Bobby glanced down at me and I noted that I only came to his chin "I'm glad you like them," Bobby smiled at me, "cause now they're your friends too."

I smiled back at Bobby, "Yeah, I guess they are."

A pressure squeezed my hand and I realized that Bobby was still holding my hand. Heat rushed to my cheeks, "Um, Bobby?" Bobby looked down at me, smiling slightly, "Yeah?"

"You're still holding my hand."

Bobby's cheeks turned pink and he immediately let go of my hand "Sorry."

A rush of warm air replaced Bobby's hand and a twinge of disappointment ran through me. Wait disappointment? Why am I disappointed for? I mentally shrugged, I probably just liked that Bobby's hands were cool. Yeah, that was it.

"So where are we going to start the tour first?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, about that," Bobby said sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head "I kind of just said that so we could just talk alone and get to know each other without them bothering us."

Surprise flickered across my face, Bobby wanted to get to know me?

"I thought it would be easier to get to know each other that way. Not that I don't want my friends to get to know you, I just wanted to get to know you first. Wait, that sounds selfish. You know what, we can just head back to them if you like and we could get to know each other there or I can give you that tour and we—"

I covered Bobby's mouth with my hand, effectively cutting off his rambling "Bobby, I think it's a great idea."

Bobby looked confused and mumbled through my hand "Which one?"

I took my hand away and smiled shyly "Your original one."

"How did you know that I wanted to sneak all of the food from the kitchen into my room?" Bobby asked in a confused voice.

I laughed and rolled my eyes "I actually didn't know you had that planned, but I will file it away for future preference." Bobby blushed at my remark, but still looked a little confused so I continued, "I meant your plan where we just get to know each other. You know, alone."

Realization dawned on his face and Bobby gave me a toothy smile "That's great, cause I know a great place we can talk."

I waited for Bobby to start walking so I could follow him, but he just stood still. I turned to him with an expectant expression, "Aren't you going to show me where we're going to talk?"

"Yeah I am, but the thing is," Bobby smiled slyly "I'm going to have to hold your hand."

The most logical and easiest way was for Bobby to lead the way and for me to follow behind him. But, I couldn't help a sense of happiness at getting to hold Bobby's hand again. I mean I was just happy to hold a cooler-than-average-person's hand that would relieve me of the warm air. Right?

"Okay." I said and shyly put my hand in his to which he grabbed, "Let's go!" he shouted and ran down the hallway where he took us back into the entrance hall and out the front door.

The sudden burst of sunlight on my face was causing me to blink my eyes rapidly, trying to adjust to the brightness. However, the brightness of the sun didn't seem to bother Bobby as he didn't slow down. "Come on."

Bobby turned left and we ran down the length of the mansion and turned to go in the back. We passed by a tennis court and some hedges before we made it into the backyard. A giant swimming pool was in the center and past it was a few scattered trees leading into a forest.

We ran past the pool and kept running until we were standing by a tree close to the edge of the forest. I gasped for air and bent down to put my hands on my knees "Do…do you always….run everywhere you…go?"

Bobby laughed and sat at the foot of the tree "Not usually, but I wanted to get here fast."

I sat down next to Bobby "What's the rush? Afraid someone might get here first?" I joked.

Bobby gave a slight chuckle "Something like that."

Bobby's tone seemed as if what he had said had a double meaning. What did he mean by that? I glanced at him, planning to ask him, only to find him staring right at me. My question died in my throat and I simply stared at the boy sitting in front of me.

At a first glance anyone could see that Bobby was attractive. With his extremely soft looking hair that was set in a perfectly messy way and how his flawless skin seemingly glowed in the sunlight. How his lips were a coral pink, looking as if they were just waiting to be kissed and behind his lips were two rows of perfectly white teeth. And his eyes. Oh his eyes were so beautiful. They were a brilliant blue in color and looked even brighter as they gleamed in the sunlight. As I stared into them I felt suddenly vulnerable, as if he were staring into my very soul.

As I stared longer at Bobby I noticed his emotions were displayed across his face: his lips were curved upwards in a dreamy yet happy smile and his eyes shined with emotions that I couldn't quite distinguish.

I wasn't sure how many minutes had passed of me just staring at Bobby, but I didn't really care. I felt like I could stare into Bobby's eyes forever and I would be perfectly fine with it. No not fine…I would be content.

Then his lips moved and I could vaguely hear his voice, I blinked in confusion "W-what did you say?"

"I said," Bobby paused for dramatic effect and smiled "are you were reading my mind?"

I shook my head "No I wasn't. I don't read minds without permission, remember?"

"Yeah I do, it's just that," Bobby shrugged nonchalantly and a teasing smile graced his lips "you were staring at me for a long time."

Heat rushed to my face and I crossed my arms indignantly, "I was not staring."

Bobby smiled cheekily, "Oh yeah? What were you doing then?"

I felt as if my face was going to catch on fire, what with all the heat I felt on it. "I was just…..glancing at you"

"I'm pretty sure that was more than a glance." Bobby teased and (if it was even possible) more heat rushed to my face. Bobby laughed "I'm just joking, besides it's fun to make you blush. You look pretty adorable when you do."

I turned to look at Bobby so fast I'm surprised I didn't get whiplash. Did he just say I looked _adorable_? A feeling of happiness surged through me though I wasn't quite sure why.

Bobby had a blush blossoming on his cheeks and before he could say anything, I spoke "Would reading your mind be the only reason I would be staring at you?"

Bobby looked relieved that I hadn't addressed what had just occurred and answered "Well you are a telepath and I was afraid I was thinking too loudly like Kurt did."

Curiosity filled me and I restrained myself from entering his mind, "What were you thinking about?"

Bobby blushed again. Now _he_ looked like the adorable blusher. I mean friends call each other adorable all the time and Bobby and I were just friends. Yeah, just friends.

"Um, some pretty embarrassing things." Bobby admitted and rubbed his hand on the back of his head.

"Do you want to tell me these 'embarrassing things'?" I asked.

Bobby looked thoughtful "Maybe I will in the future, cause right now we have a job to do."

"What's that?"

Bobby smiled excitedly "Getting to know each other!"

I laughed, remembering why we had come out here in the first place, "Well, what do you want to know?"

"Well, first things first," Bobby said seriously "do you like ice?"

"Ice?" I asked incredulously, "That's your first question?"

"Just answer the question, please."

"Well, since you said please," I smiled "yes I do like ice. I actually love ice now that I think about it. Now is it my turn?"

Bobby looked pleased "Yeah, yeah, it's your turn."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, Bobby looked _too_ pleased "Why are you so pleased?"

Bobby smiled mysteriously "Your answer to my first question is for future preferences. Okay now it's my turn."

"Wait! It's still my turn I didn't get to ask a question yet!"

Bobby raised his eyebrows, "You just did."

I opened my mouth to deny it but quickly closed it. "Fine, you can go." I admitted reluctantly and crossed my arms.

"What's your favorite type of food to eat?"

"Well, I love all kinds of food so it will be hard to just pick one," I thought aloud "but if I really had to pick one I guess I'd choose….Italian food."

Bobby's eyes widened "I _love_ Italian food! What's your favorite dish?"

"Spaghetti."

Bobby's eyes widened further and he jumped up into a kneeling position "That's _my_ favorite dish too!"

It was my turn for my eyes to widen "No way, that's so cool!"

Bobby sat back down and smirked "Would you say it's _really_ cool?"

I looked at him suspiciously, "Yeah I guess. Why?"

Bobby's smirk widened "No reason."

I sighed, I should've seen that one coming. Oh well, "Okay, now it's my turn. Um…" I thought for a moment "what is your favorite drink?"

"Easy," Bobby answered "Water. Oh and Pepsi too."

I nodded thoughtfully "Yeah I like those too, but I like them better with ice."

Bobby's smirk returned, "You like it better with ice, huh?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but I felt someone press against my mind. I frowned and put a finger to my head and tried to find out who it was. The force belonged to a very powerful telepath that somehow felt familiar, then I remembered: it was the professor. I was about to lift my mental curtain, but the presence left my head.

"We have to go." Bobby said and stood up. I hurried to follow his movements and stood up as well. "Where to?" I asked him and he offered me his hand "The Danger Room."

Sounds promising. I took Bobby's hand and he led the way, running, to our destination. We ran to the back door of the mansion and went inside where it opened into a hallway. We ran down the hallway and through a door into the entrance hall where we went behind the staircase and onto an elevator. "I didn't know there was an elevator here." I stated and Bobby squeezed my hand and smiled "If we went on that tour, you would've."

And for some reason I found that funny. I started to laugh and Bobby did the same and before you knew it we were two laughing mutant teenage boys holding hands in an elevator.

The doors opened to reveal a hallway covered in gray tiles "This is the subbasement, where the X Men come to train and learn about missions. Plus we have an infirmary here too." Bobby said and led me down the hallway and stopped at a door halfway down the hall, "Through here is the Danger Room's control panel and below it is the Danger Room itself."

Bobby pushed the door open to reveal the control room. Inside the room was the professor, Scott, and my friends. "Hello Bobby, Jay, it's nice of you to join us." the professor greeted us as we walked in. "Hey professor." Bobby greeted as I said "Hi professor."

"Took you long enough." Scott said and smiled as he glanced down at our still clasped hands "I see you guys got acquainted."

I blushed and immediately let go of Bobby's hand "Oh w-we aren't—" Bobby cut me off and threw his hand over my shoulders and pulled me against the side of his body "Yeah, we aren't acquaintances. We're friends. Really good friends, right Jay?"

"Yeah, we are." I smiled up at Bobby and he returned it. Heat filled my cheeks as I noticed just how close we were to each other. "Sure you guys are." Scott said with an amused expression and walked to stand beside the professor.

"Bobby, could I have a word with you?" the professor asked Bobby. "Yeah, of course professor." Bobby let go of me and went to talk to the professor. I watched Bobby as he walked away and then turned to look at my friends. "Hey guys." I said cheerfully.

"Hey guys?" Amara asked angrily "You ditch us and all we get is 'hey guys?' Do you know how worried we were about you!?"

"Actually it was just Amara who was worried about you. Julian and I knew you would be alright." Manuel stated and Amara glared at him "Hey! I'm talking here," Amara glanced at me "well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

I ran over to Amara and gave her a hug "I'm sorry we left you. We honestly thought you guys were following behind us and I am so, so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

Amara returned my hug "Of course I can forgive you, heck I already _have_ forgiven you. Just don't ever do that again, okay?"

I nodded and pulled away from the hug "Okay I promise to never ditch you guys again. So what did you guys do while Bobby and I were gone?"

"Scott took us for a tour and when we got to the kitchen we met some really cool people. Their names were Kitty, Piotr, Kurt, Jubilee, and Rogue and they were super nice too!" Amara said excitedly and I smiled at her "Oh my gosh, what a coincidence! I met them too! Bobby introduced me to them."

Amara smirked at me "So what did you and Bobby do after meeting them?"

I rolled my eyes at her smirk, but told her of Bobby taking me outside so we could get to know each other. As I told Amara the story, her smirk seemed to get bigger by the second. Once I finished I gave Amara a questioning glance "Why are you smirking so hugely?"

Amara's smirk grew wider and she opened her mouth to answer, but the professor cut her off "In order for you four to join the X Men, I would like to get a feel for your abilities. This is where the Danger Room comes in hand," the professor gestured to the room below the control panel, "the Danger Room is designed to test a mutant's powers and challenge them. Before you go in there yourselves, I would like Iceman to give a demonstration."

I shared confused looks with my friends and turned to the professor, "Who's Iceman, professor?" I asked.

The professor pointed at Bobby, "Iceman is Bobby's codename for the X Men."

"Why are you called Iceman for?" I asked Bobby.

Bobby straightened his posture and winked at me "Cause of this." Suddenly Bobby's entire body was encased in ice and he walked to the door leading to the Danger Room.

"Bobby's mutant ability allows him to manipulate ice by freezing the water vapor in the air around him." the professor explained as Bobby walked to the middle of the Danger Room and waved at us.

Wait a minute, if Bobby can control ice and his codename is Iceman then that question about ice he asked earlier…..

….and how I answered….

I just basically said I like Bobby.

Crap.


End file.
